Can Samsung's Note9 dethrone the best smartphone in SA?

South Korean electronics manufacturer, Samsung will on Thursday launch its Galaxy Note9 smartphone.

The device will hit local shelves and networks soon.

The premium phablet smartphone will feature the manufacturer’s signature S Pen stylus for easy memo recording, a dual camera with twin 12MP lens and 6.4-inch display among other specifications.

The Note9 will succeed the launch of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S9 device, announced at the biggest global smartphone conference, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain in February this year.

The S9 saw success in SA amid a global decline in smartphone shipments, according to IDC data.

The question remains whether the Note9 smartphone will bolster smartphone sales of the brand in SA and knock off the reigning smartphone from the top spot.

The Chinese electronics manufacturer, Huawei is ranked as the best smartphone brand in the country according to Gfk information – this, behind the success of the Huawei P20 Series including the P20, P20 Lite and P20 Pro.

The P20 Pro phablet-sized device currently ranks as the best camera smartphone in the world, with the highest score of 109 by lens rating body DxOMark.

The Note9 is also reported to feature an only slightly-tweaked camera from the S9, with similar camera features, which could possibly impact the DxOMark score of the device.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese manufacturer HTC’s U12+ also poses a threat to the Note9 beating Huawei’s P20 to second place in smartphone rankings by DxOMark of 103, edging Huawei’s P20 by a single point from its 102 rating.

The HTC U12+ features a 12 MP with Laser Auto Focus and a 16 MP with 2 times optical zoom and Auto Focus.